Junk in Oil - Help Identify

[Kirk]

I haven't been driving my Boxster much (2000 Box S). Yesterday I finally got around to changing the oil again. It's been 19 months and 6,800 miles. I found a LOT of the little olive green rubbery bits in my filter that others have seen before.



But I also found some longer pieces of white rubber.





Just to be safe and investigate further I dropped my oil pan and found a very minimal amount of both types of pieces there. Some of the longer white stuff was stuck up on the oil suction screen though, so I was glad I dropped the pan and cleaned it.

I'm not going to freak out. I only found one speck of metal and just a few specs of the dark brown glassy material from chain tensioners. So I'm guessing that some sealant or o-ring material just got chewed up in the engine. The car is running fine and not leaking oil. I saw someone else suggested the oil filler tube o-ring. That's the only place where I have a tiny bit of an oil leak. I'll have to see if I can take that apart and check it. If the o-ring was bulging inwards I may have snagged it with the dip stick and forced it into the engine... but maybe then it'd just float around in the pan and not get chewed up.

I'm going to run the car for another 6,000 miles and just check the oil filter then, maybe sooner if I lose any sleep over it.

Any thoughts though on the white o-ring like material? Where would that have come from?

Kirk

[JTP]

I had some of that stringy white stuff in my oil filter too. It's Porsche engine sealant and not much to worry about. I recall there's a thread on the green stuff in someone's oil filter.

[mikefocke]

And doing a UOA at around 1k. Oil is cheap, engines aren't.

[thstone]

I have some of the same white rubber stuff. I haven't worried about it.

[insite]

the green stuff may be part of your chain tensioner guides.....

[ekam]

Looks like food.

[Idaho Red Rocket 3]

The white stuff reminds me of bird legs. I think somebody once said the chopped up green rubber bits are from the cam ends plug. Or something like that.

[Topless]

Hmmm,
That much stuff in the filter makes me pretty uncomfortable. Did someone pull the pan a while ago and use way too much sealant (white stuff)? I have not seen the green stuff before but finding the source for all this could be very important.

[Mike_Yi]

Pasta salad?

[Kirk]

Originally Posted by Topless

Hmmm,
That much stuff in the filter makes me pretty uncomfortable. Did someone pull the pan a while ago and use way too much sealant (white stuff)? I have not seen the green stuff before but finding the source for all this could be very important.

Yup, when I bought the car six years ago the drain plug was seized in the pan. I had to remove the pan to get the drain plug out. I re-sealed the pan with black RTV sealant. Did I use too much? Probably. I didn't expect it to turn green or white though.... The stuff still stuck inside the pan this time was still black, despite constant contact with the oil in the pan. So, I'm thinking it's something else.

Again, I think I'll worry about it if I start to get a leak, the engine runs rough, or if I find more junk at my next oil change.

Kirk

[JTP]

Charles Navarro looked the white rubbery sealant remnants in my oil filter and he called it Drybond or something like that. A Porsche factory sealant.

[Topless]

Originally Posted by Kirk

Yup, when I bought the car six years ago the drain plug was seized in the pan. I had to remove the pan to get the drain plug out. I re-sealed the pan with black RTV sealant. Did I use too much? Probably. I didn't expect it to turn green or white though.... The stuff still stuck inside the pan this time was still black, despite constant contact with the oil in the pan. So, I'm thinking it's something else.

Again, I think I'll worry about it if I start to get a leak, the engine runs rough, or if I find more junk at my next oil change.

Kirk

Ok, if you used black RTV to seal the pan and the remains are still black then the white and green stuff came from elsewhere. If it were my car I would shorten the oil change interval and as you said: keep my eyes/ears open.

[jhandy]

It is my understanding that chain pads are brown-tan, and the tension rails are black plastic. however, look at the porsche gasket set for the 986. There appears to be a lot of green o-rings in the bag.

http://www.****************************************.com/Part-Number/Engine-Gasket-Set-NOTE--Does-not-include-head-gaskets-or-valve-stem-seals-NOTE--Also-use--(1)-000-043-204-35-Loctite-5900-__98610090500_O-prd-E_6BB4EABD.aspx

http://www.eurocarparts.com/ecp/c/Porsche_911_3.6_2001/p/Car-Parts/Engine-Parts/engine-parts1/car-gasket-seals/?361330085&1&88a8a23cab73e482554f05e3940ea876b516ffca&ENGS

surely someone like Jake who has torn these motors down should be able to give us a top 5 list of green plastic parts in the motor.

[jcb986]

Anything that is rubbery is a sealant...chain guide tensioner should be of a very hard material.

[Spinnaker]

Originally Posted by JTP

I had some of that stringy white stuff in my oil filter too. It's Porsche engine sealant and not much to worry about. I recall there's a thread on the green stuff in someone's oil filter.

Yep, it looks just like this.
It will be nice to know when someone finds out what this stuff it is.
Interesting coincidence, the OP also has a 2000 S.

[first boxster]

It sure would be nice if anybody has located the source of the small green bits in the filter. I have looked at all the threads, and they all seem to stop with nobody providing any final resolution of the problem. Is there one or is this still anybodies guess?

[Jake Raby]

The green comes from the inside of the variable valve timing adjusters. When these seals fail they are ejected from the unit by engine oil pressure. I can tell by the shape and color of them.

[epapp]

Does that mean no more variocam if the seals are ejected?

[Jake Raby]

Originally Posted by epapp

Does that mean no more variocam if the seals are ejected?

It's a fail safe, without the seals the unit fails to advance. Check cam deviation and go from there.

[first boxster]

Thanks Jake. I respect your comments. I will start by checking in that area.